I Get It

It’s 9pm. Your email box has unread messages in it. You still haven’t gotten to the group chat that’s blown up your phone all day because OMG did you see #BEYchella on IG this weekend?! Your gym bag needs to be packed and because the weekend was so busy, you didn’t get to meal prep so you also need to pack your lunch for tomorrow.

You check in with your nutrition coach tomorrow morning and they’re going to ask you how sleep is this week? Did you hit your goals? You’d need to drop everything right now and just get in bed if you wanted to get close to 7 hours of sleep, which definitely isn’t happening because your boss just emailed you again. If you don’t hit your sleep goals, you probably shouldn’t train tomorrow morning and so there’s no point in even hitting your macros tonight, so who the F even cares about all of this…...walks to kitchen, pours glass of wine, sits down and begins scrolling through all 85,000 #BEYchella posts. And now you’ve caught a case of the fuck its.

I get it. A lot of the time life is a moving ball of madness, and it’s hard to keep up. So how do you get those 8 hours of sleep each night? How do you quiet the noise of the day so that you can get to sleep and stay asleep? Barring any hormonal issues, a great place to start is developing a “Power Down Routine”.

Developing a Power Down Routine

Creating good sleep habits starts with a sleep routine that helps you prepare your body and mind for bed. Just as we create routines for preparing ourselves to workout and hit our macros, we also need to create a routine to accomplish our sleep goals. So how do we go about creating our routine?

1. Step One: Create the framework for how and and when your sleep will occur, your sleep plan. Non negotiable for all M2PN clients is 7-8 hours of sleep per night. More is always welcomed with open arms.

a. Starting with what time you need to wake up in the morning, work your way backwards to find the time you need to be asleep by (not just in bed) to hit your goal. b. Figure out when you need to be in bed to actually fall asleep by “Sleep Time”. Most people will fall asleep within 10-20 mins of being in bed.c. Figure out what time you need to start your power down routine in order to be in bed by “In Bed Time”

2. Step Two: Create your sleep rules. We’ve offered some great suggestions below that we’ve found help our clients get to sleep and stay asleep. You’re welcome to create your own set of rules.

3. Step Three: Create your power down routine. This will be how you prepare your body and mind for rest and recovery. Your routine should allow you to put a book end on the current day, prepare you for the next day, and get you ready for bed. Check out the example below.

a. At 8pm an alarm on my phone goes off cueing the start of my “Power Down Routine” b. I then go to the kitchen and set up the coffee pot for next morning, prep breakfast, travel mug and shaker bottlec. I put the clothing I’ll wear to the gym the next day in the bathroom for the next morningd. I set my packed gym bag by front doore. I then take the dog on a quick walkf. Once we’re done with our walk I brush & floss my teeth, take my night time supplements(magnesium + CBD) , and go to the bathroomg. It is now usually 8:30 pm. I will get in bed, plug phone in, set alarm (no more phone usage after this)h. Read book or brain dump. If my day has been crazy and I can’t quiet my mind I do a brain dump, or journal, of all of the things I’m stressed/thinking about. Things I need to do tomorrow. Anything really that comes to mind. I’ll do either of these or both until I feel like falling asleep.

Let's Face It...

...late night emails from your boss, clients, and co-workers aren’t going to stop. The group chat will continue to blow up. And unfortunately sometimes meal prep isn’t always going to happen. Taking control of the end of your day by empowering yourself to end it on your terms is a great step toward refueling your mind, body, and soul for the next day.

Resource For You

Click Here to download step by step instructions for creating your personalized Power Down Routine.

Jenny Sharp, M2PN Head Coach

About the Author

Jenny Sharp, Head Coach

Jenny has been making a positive impact on M2PN clients' lives since 2017.